The United States House of Representatives removed Republican Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House after a vote of 216 to 210 this Tuesday (3). This was the first time that the Lower House voted to vacate the position in 113 years and that it was successful.
“It is to the benefit of this country that we have a better speaker than Kevin McCarthy,” said Matt Gaetz, who began the process of filing a motion to vacate on Oct. 2.
McCarthy’s removal was made possible by eight Republican deputies voting against his remaining in office along with the Democrats. And now that the position of speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has been vacated, the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government faces more uncertainty.
In this context, the US government has some guarantees after avoiding, this Saturday (30), a strike when Congress approved a provisional agreement to extend the country’s financing for another 45 days.
However, even though the continuing resolution (CR) was intended to provide more time to debate a series of spending bills that make up the 2024 budget, they will now have to take a backseat.
One of these issues is additional funding for Ukraine, which was excluded from the approved provisional measure.
So the urgent task in American politics now is to appoint a new leader to the House.
Who runs the house now?
Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina), member of the Financial Services Committee, was named acting chairman. The former media consultant was at the top of the list of members to succeed him as president of the Chamber in January, after 15 rounds of voting.
Amid the climate of uncertainty, the recess in the Chamber is expected to last a week. Republicans are expected to return to work next Wednesday (11) to hold internal elections to nominate a replacement. This indication will be taken to the other deputies on Thursday (12) for elections in the House.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
